Discover with Timothy

Shrine of Our Lady of Europe, Gibraltar

Shrine of Our Lady of Europe is a Catholic shrine at Europa Point in Gibraltar. It was built on the site of a mosque.

On 20 August 1462, St Bernard of Clairvaux's feast day, the Spaniards under Don Rodrigo Ponce de Leon captured Gibraltar from the Moors. They discovered a small mosque at Europa Point, and converted it into a Catholic shrine in honour of Our Lady as Patroness of Europe. They built a chapel at right angle to the mosque, and the whole area was known as Shrine of Our Lady of Europe. A small statue of the Virgin and Child was installed in the shrine.

Shrine of Our Lady of Europe, GibraltarShrine of Our Lady of Europe, Gibraltar
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shrine_of_Our_Lady_of_Europe_in_Gibraltar_(2).jpg
Author: Ecemaml
photo licensing

For over two centuries, the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe benefited from the ships that pass through the straits. Mariners often came with gifts to the shrine, and they ensured that a constant supply of oil was available for the shrine as well as the tower.

In 1979, Pope John Paul II approved the title Our Lady of Europe as the Patroness of Gibraltar.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website



Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.

Copyright © 2003-2025 Timothy Tye. All Rights Reserved.